The government must act now to ban wild animals in circuses

It is time for Defra to stop dragging its heels while the rest of the world takes the lead. Wild animals don't belong in circuses

'It’s unconscionable for us to deny wild animals in British circuses their freedom. While Defra dawdles, these animals continue to endure cramped cages, whips and ankuses.' Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters

Having served as a member of parliament for more than two decades, I'm well aware that there can be genuine constraints that affect the speed at which certain issues progress. The government's failure to ban wild animals in circuses, however, has me, along with much of the country, utterly baffled. The British Veterinary Association has stated unequivocally that the complex needs of animals cannot be met in a circus environment. Other highly respected organisations, including Peta, the RSPCA, Born Free and the Captive Animals' Protection Society, have all been calling for a ban, and the vast majority of the British public is also in favour. In a rare show of unity, even parliament went so far as to direct the government to introduce a regulation prohibiting wild-animal acts last June, and yet here we are, eight months on, and no further forward.

It's clear the government was biding its time to see the outcome of Circus Krone's challenge to Austria's ban, but the Austrian constitutional court staunchly defended the legality of the ban and, in December, threw out the application to have it overturned. An elephant expert who worked in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for eight years has called the lack of action on this issue "completely barking mad" and said circuses were "fundamentally unsuited" to keeping elephants, big cats, bears and other wild animals. The European Commission has twice affirmed the validity of national bans on animal circuses. Even Greece introduced its own national ban last month. It's unconscionable for us to deny wild animals in British circuses their freedom, and while Defra dawdles, these animals continue to endure cramped cages, whips and ankuses.

Who could forget the gut-wrenching undercover video footage of Anne, the elephant who was hit with a pitchfork and a club while she was chained up and unable to escape? The abuse of Anne at Bobby Roberts Super Circus is not unique.

In December 2009, Peta US released photographs taken by a retired circus employee that showed terrified baby elephants, who were forcibly separated from their mothers, bound with ropes, wrestled, slammed to the ground, shocked with electric prods and gouged with bullhooks (sharp, steel-tipped devices that resemble fireplace pokers), and there are countless more records and accounts of similar treatment of animals in circuses around the world. Anne endured 58 years of being hauled around the country before finally being moved to a better environment, but many lions, tigers, camels, zebras and other wild animals are still being used and abused in British circuses. Treated as little more than replaceable inventory, they are forced to perform the same ridiculous, unnatural and sometimes painful tricks week after week, year after year.

Our knowledge of animals and their behaviour has come a long way. We can no longer justify imprisoning them, robbing them of everything that is natural and important to them and turning them into objects of ridicule for our amusement.

Stricter licensing cannot and will not alleviate the painful sting of a whip or soothe the welts of animals who have been beaten. Licensing won't provide a shred of comfort to animals who are jammed into transport vehicles for months on end. Nor will licensing relieve the interminable years of loneliness and boredom or the desperate sadness that animals experience when they lose their young.

Many governments around the world have already recognised this. The use of animals in circuses has been abolished in Austria, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Greece, Peru, Singapore, Sweden and many municipalities in Canada, and legislation is pending in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador.

It appears that only Defra and those who profit from forcing animals to perform are finding ways to procrastinate and prevaricate. But with the groundswell of opposition mounting and Defra's list of excuses rapidly dwindling, the government would be well-advised to drop its current hesitant and unpopular position, to stop dragging its heels while the rest of the world takes the lead and to implement a ban on wild-animal circuses in Britain.